We teamed up with Bowbridge Homes to help create this brilliant inspirational mentoring programme with Evie Toombes. Our Mintridge Mentoring Programmes are designed to inspire, develop and nurture the young people that we have the pleasure of working with and we are delighted that Bowbridge Homes also share those values when supporting young people and also the communities surrounding their developments. This amazing Silver Mentoring Programme with Evie Toombes, for these two Robert Smyth Academy mentees, has been a great success and for them both to have a one to one mentor, supporter and different perspective to chat with every fortnight has really enabled Evie’s mentees to thrive and look at how they can reach their own goals in the future.

The two mentees were chosen by their staff at Robert Smyth Academy to take part in this mentoring programme as they recognised that both mentees have lots of other skills that couldn’t all be recognised academically, that they really wanted them to develop and understand more about.

It was clear from the beginning of this mentoring journey that Evie and her mentees were very well suited and they were all going to be able to support each other throughout the mentoring programme. As someone who is a big advocate for a positive mindset, knowing your worth and using your strengths to your advantage, Evie was very quickly able to establish what her mentees needed support with and also what she thought she could help them with, especially in terms of goal setting and recognising your own strengths and weaknesses.

Evie said after one of her calls, “I had a really good session with my mentee yesterday and we looked at how we could work towards her goals, how to achieve them and how to stop creating self-limiting beliefs or thoughts.”

This programme was not without its challenges. The two mentees started their programme whilst trying to return to some form of normality at school, uncertainty around exam periods and also trying to navigate the demands of applying and trying to start new courses at college. Evie worked really well with her two mentees to help them try and focus on the positive things in their life as well as what they could do to keep perspective and not worry about things they couldn’t control or hadn’t experienced before.

Evie has guided her Bowbridge Homes mentees through some challenging times, uncertainty at school and in their exams and finished a brilliant mentoring journey with both her mentees, that will hopefully set them up for years to come. When talking about academic and personal goals, Evie’s mentees have responded well to her thought-provoking questions and tools she shared with them about managing their stress levels, finding what they enjoy and recognising their own strengths and weaknesses. Not only that, Evie has worked with her mentees a lot on building a good foundation for their own mental well-being and how to respond to challenges they may face in the future.

“I had a really good chat about everything with my mentee. She didn’t get the exam results she was hoping for but we are moving forward with the idea that actually we need to be focussing on her strengths and she is such a great people person, she cares a lot about other people and has lots of great qualities that obviously can’t be measured by an exam. I encouraged her not to worry too much and let her know there are lots of jobs out there that would really value the skills and values she has as a person. She seemed quite stressed out so I told her to try and focus on doing some things that she enjoys and give herself some time to focus on what makes her happy.”

It has been so great to see the journey Evie’s mentees have been on and they have both received some brilliant support from her, especially during their exam periods and making difficult choices associated with their future courses and careers. We know that with Evie’s help through this programme, both mentees will definitely do very well in the future when aiming to achieve their goals.

The partnership we have developed with Bowbridge Homes to bring this programme together and also support young people in schools and communities where they are developing homes is extremely valuable and demonstrates the benefits sport can have on all areas of your life and show the values you can learn through having a role model to support you on your own path.

We have really enjoyed following this mentoring journey and we are very grateful to Bowbridge Homes for their support and enabling these two students from Robert Smyth Academy to work with Evie during this mentoring programme.

If you are interested in a Programme with Evie or any of our other Mintridge Ambassadors, or you are interested in a virtual or physical Programme with one of our team of inspirational Ambassadors, then please get in touch via the Mintridge website at www.mintridgefoundation.org.uk or with Katie at katie@mintridge.org.uk

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The Mintridge Foundation is a registered charity dedicated to enhancing life skills in young people through sport. We provide a support network for young people by harnessing the power of positive sporting role models. The Mintridge Foundation assists young people of all ages, abilities, and physical capabilities to develop confidence and resilience, and creates awareness of the importance of mental and physical wellbeing through sport.

Our team of Ambassadors - Olympians, Paralympians and other professional sports stars from over 20 sports, both team and individual - work with young people in schools, clubs and academies across the UK. Starting with visits including assemblies, coaching clinics and classroom sessions tailored to each organisation’s requirements, our ambassadors can then provide one- on- one remote mentoring in a safeguarded environment, delivered via technology such as FitSwarm and Playwaze to build a lasting legacy for individuals.

The Mintridge Foundation’s successes demonstrate the incredible power of sport; from a mentee’s selection to represent Great Britain in their chosen field to enabling disabled children to find confidence and happiness just through participation. Understanding life after sport, we also support our Ambassadors in their transition from active sport to the next stage of their careers.

To find out more about the Mintridge Foundation, please contact Alex Wallace.

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